The Spirits of El Segundo

48 Hours

CBS News

True Crime, News, Tv & Film, Cbs

3.9 • 7K Ratings

🗓️ 29 January 2025

⏱️ 41 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In July 1957, Richard Phillips and Milton Curtis, two police officers on a routine stop in the California suburb of El Segundo were gunned down by a man who, unbeknownst to them, had just committed robbery and rape at a nearby lover’s lane. With only a fingerprint and the belief that one of the officer’s bullets hit the killer, investigators searched for more than 45 years for the man who murdered two of their own. “48 Hours" correspondent Bill Lagattuta reports. This classic "48 Hours" episode last aired on 2/2/2008. Watch all-new episodes of “48 Hours” on Saturdays, and stream on demand on Paramount+. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	This case was like no other case.
0:04.0	This case, it was like no other case.
0:20.0	Going back that much in time, it was like out of this world.
0:26.6	It's like what you see in the movies.
0:29.6	July 22nd, 1957.
0:33.6	Something has happened, and I asked if he was hurt, is he hurt bad?
0:40.3	And they said, no, it's worse than that.
0:43.3	It was a huge crime.
0:45.3	It hit El-Sugundo in the South Bay Area.
0:48.3	Hard.
0:49.3	What do you remember as a child?
0:51.3	Asking mom questions about what happened to our dad.
0:55.0	She would cry and say that, you know, he was killed.
1:05.0	The perpetrator of this crime turned on the officers, officers who hadn't even had their
1:13.6	weapons drawn, shot the first officer in the back three times, and then turned his weapon
1:19.6	on the second officer who was seated in the police car and savagely shot him three times
1:24.6	in the torso, killing both officers. To have them killed like that right in cold blood, I was devastated.
1:32.3	Back in 1957, everybody was involved. The FBI, state agencies, local agencies, the sheriff's department, and Elsa Gundo.
1:39.3	This case have been haunting the people of Elsa Gundo, and especially those in the police department, for almost 50 years now.
1:44.7	Not could a guy come out and commit all these crimes and then disappear all this time?
1:48.5	Guy got away with murder. Simple as that.
1:51.0	This guy killed two on-duty police officers, and some 46 years later, he was going to be
	...

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